DiscussionWhere is the R7 Mark II? Wildlife shooters, still waiting?

right so another spring migration about to start and still no R7 II, ive had the R7 since it came out and its been a good camera tbf but the AF on small birds against busy backgrounds isnt what the newer bodies do and I'm still on mechanical shutter for anything flying. now Ive seen a couple of rumour sites saying its slipped past 2026 altogether. do I keep waiting or just get an R6 III and crop, or go back to the 90D for BIF lol. what are the rest of you R7 owners doing

andyp_1974 said:

do I keep waiting or just get an R6 III and crop

I hear you! Crop sensors are underrated for birds and I'd hate to see Canon give up on them. If you can't wait, an R6 III with the 100-400 gets you the same framing once you crop, just with fewer pixels on the bird, and you're paying a lot for the privilege. Personally I'd shoot the R7 one more season.

For what it's worth my backyard is the opposite problem to yours: everything's close, and the busy background is my own fence and the neighbor's lilac. What made the biggest difference for me wasn't the body, it was setting a smaller AF zone, turning subject detection to animals, and pre-focusing on the feeder perch so the camera isn't hunting from scratch when a goldfinch lands. That and a bit of patience. The warblers are coming through here in a few weeks and I'll be out there in my slippers at 6am like every year!

Get closer. Same answer as every year.

5amJim said:

Get closer.

the birds disagree mate

Can't help myself... a Z50 II with the 180-600 is a lovely little combo for anybody fed up of waiting. 5amJim runs exactly that and the man gets more hummingbird shots than anybody I know. Just saying. ;)

• Walt

dont start walt

Kathy_R said:

an R6 III with the 100-400 gets you the same framing once you crop

Crop math: an R6 III cropped to APS-C framing leaves you about 12-13MP on the bird. The R7 gives you the full 32.5. For small birds at distance the R7 is still the better tool, warts and all. Don't sell it for a full frame body just because the rumour mill is slow.

If the misses are AF on busy backgrounds, try a smaller zone instead of whole-area tracking, and pre-focus on the perch before the bird arrives. That gets back more keepers than any new body would. And if rolling shutter is the issue with birds in flight, stay on the electronic first curtain and accept the frame rate. It's not glamorous advice, but it costs nothing.

And for what it's worth, the R7 files at base ISO are very good. Most of the gap people see against the newer bodies is AF behaviour, not image quality. Expose properly, keep the ISO sensible in the early light, and you'll print those birds as large as anyone ever will.

R5 II with 100-500, crop in camera. Expensive answer. But it works.

Norrsken said:

Expensive answer.

yeah slightly out of budget for a bloke from Leicester lol, I'd have to sell the car and the missus would have something to say about that

Out of interest, how are you finding the RF 100-400 on the R7? Thinking of recommending it to someone in our local bird club. She's on a tight budget and the 100-500 is out of reach.

honestly for the money its brilliant, light enough to carry all day, bit slow at the long end when the light goes but thats what you get for the price. keeping the R7 then I reckon, one more season. tried rawtherapists zone tip at Rutland on sunday and it did help on the reed warblers, still lost a few to the reeds but less than before so cheers for that